by Clay Crosby, MFT, Assistant Clinical Director

Popular Southern California Counseling Center supervisor and Family Training instrructor Charlotte Spiegelman was profiled in an article titled “L.A. Therapist Treats Children of Divorce by Helping Parents First,” on August 30th on examiner.com:  Here’s the link; http://www.examiner.com/divorce-parenting-in-los-angeles/l-a-therapist-treats-children-of-divorce-by-helping-parents-first.  

The article does a great job of capturing Charlotte’s intellect, spirit and sense of humor.   We are so lucky to have talented and experienced clinicans like Charlotte training our counselors at SCCC.  The article was written by examiner.com’s LA Divorce and Parenting expert, Virginia Gilbert, another member of the SCCC community.  Virginia trained at SCCC and is currently a part-time staff member.

by Clay Crosby, MFT, Assistant Clinical Director

National Public Radio ran an excellent story about parent/teen conflict this morning, highlighing the work of psychologist Laura Kastner, who with co-author Jennifer Wyatt wrote a recent book, Getting to Calm: Cool-headed Strategies for Parenting Tweens and Teens.  Kastner’s way of working with parents is very much in line with the approach we use in our Best Practice Parenting class in that she helps parents learn to keep their cool and gain some understanding of the biological changes going on in teens’ brains that influence their behavior.  Check out the story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129150658

For more infromation about SCCC’s Best Practice Parenting Class. see my previous post:

http://sccc-la.org/sccc_blog/2010/08/13/best-practice-parenting-class-is-a-success/

by Clay Crosby, MFT, Assistant Clinical Director

Introduced just over a year ago, SCCC’s Best Practice Parenting Class is still a work in progress but we couldn’t be happier with the feedback we have gotten from participants.  Bob Mendelsohn (SCCC’s Clinical Director), Carol Potter and I sat down over a period of several months and sketched out the outline for the Best Practice Parenting curriculum.  Our goal was to create a parenting class that was in alignment with the collaborative, strength-based philosophy that guides the other programs at the Southern California Counseling Center.  Many parents come into parenting classes feeling pretty bad about their parenting abilities and we did not want to reinforce those feelings.  Our plan was to find out what each parent is doing well and what they know about good parenting and build on that foundation.  The parents and facilitators collectively decide what the goals of the class are and collaborate on new ways to approach the specific challenges each parent faces.  Along the way we discuss  issues of child development, discipline and management of parental stress and reactivity.   It is important to us that the atmosphere of the class be supportive, welcoming and non-shaming.  Throughout the ten weeks we also introduce Mindful Awareness techniques designed to help parents manage stress and feel less pressured by the demands of modern life.

Here’s what some of the participants have said:

“[I] found confidence and reassurance within myself which has directly affected my family, myself and our level of happiness.”

“My helplessness is gone. The class empowered me… I am more hopeful that I will be able to face the challenges to come with my daughter.”

“I know that I have a choice in how I want to be or react with my child… I’m optimistic.”

“I don’t get the urgency for [my children] to be so perfect — we’re more relaxed.”

“This class showed me how to calm down.  I don’t need to feel tense all the time…. I have new tools to work with.”

“I’ve learned to appreciate every single second I spend with my son.”

Our next ten-week session begins on Thursday, September 16th.  Contact me at ccrosby@sccc-la.org for more information.

see Best Practice Parenting Brochure

Counselors Randi Dressler and Caryn Greenhut will be co-leading the new

 Women’s Empowerment Group.

This group is designed for women who could benefit from a supportive, process-oriented group emphasizing self-care, self-awareness and self-acceptance. Some topics to be explored include boundary setting, enhancing self esteem, assertiveness and mindfulness.

Group begins Thursday, August 5, 6:00-7:30 pm and will run for 12 consecutive weeks. All members are asked to commit for the entire duration.

Fee: $15.00 per session.

Please contact Caryn at (323) 904-3182 Or Randi at (323) 904-3156 for intake.

ADVANCED SUPERVISION TRAINING 

This Fall at the Southern California Counseling Center!

Clinical Supervision is an exciting and challenging endeavor.  Our instructor, Nancy Steiny, MFT, uses her many years of experience as a therapist, teacher and supervisor to bring that excitement and challenge to a highly interactive and collegial course of learning.  Using exercises, discussions, debates, role plays and, above all, her unfailing curiosity and humor, Nancy creates a community of learning that invites participants to bring their own knowledge and expertise to bear to enrich the learning experience of all.

This course is AAMFT and CAMFT approved.  Readings will be provided to participants for discussion. The course goes well beyond the basics of supervision and includes six hours of BBS-required law and ethics training.   Enrollment is limited to 15 students.

The Southern California Counseling Center is approved by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences to offer continuing education to MFTs and LCSWs.  SCCC maintains responsibility for this program.

BBS Provider #249

Classes meet Tuesdays, 9:00 am to 12 noon

21-hour CAMFT-approved Supervision Course offers 21 hours of Continuing Education credits.Dates:

September 21, 2010 through Nov. 2, 2010.

Fee : $350

or continue until Nov 23, 2010 for

30-hour AAMFT-approved Supervision Course offers 30 hours of Continuing Education credits.

Cost: $450

All classes will meet at The Southern California Counseling Center, 5615 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90019.

For more information, please contact Clay Crosby, MFT, (323) 937-1344 ext. 3207.

Free Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Consultation Clinic
SCCC Introduces a New Service to the Community

The Southern California Counseling Center launched a new free CBT clinic on June 6th, 2010. We treated 9 clients and many of our SCCC interns got a chance to put their CBT skills to work for the first time. We hope to have bigger numbers on the next clinic days which are Sunday, July 11, 2010 and Sunday August 1, 2010 from 2-6pm. Please visit our facebook page and request to “friend it.” It is under “Free Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.”

The goal of the Free CBT clinic:

To introduce Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) treatment to the public via a free, individual CBT consultation. By offering the free consultation to the public, we hope to potentially initiate “mental health treatment” to those who may never have attempted to access treatment before due to lack of finances, lack of knowledge about the therapeutic process, or even fear of the process. It will be an opportunity for them to be introduced to a new kind of therapy and subsequent positive life-style change that they have never experienced before. We believe that all people should have the privilege of learning and integrating this type of skills-based therapy.

We also believe that these individuals will be intrigued enough by the CBT skills-based interventions that they may elect to seek CBT therapy in their community. Or better yet, they might seek it here at The Southern California Counseling Center (SCCC) where CBT trained interns and lay counselors will be available to them on a regular basis.

The free CBT consultation will consist of an individual session with a CBT trained counselor who will offer an introduction and brief education into what CBT is about, how it works and how this treatment helps people with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, relationship problems, grief and loss, etc.

We consider CBT to be one of the most humanistic types of psychotherapy because it focuses on an individual’s thinking instead of an individual’s character.

John Tsilimparis, MFT

John Tsilimparis, MFT

John Tsilimparis, MFT is Cognitive Behavioral therapist and a Southern California Counseling Center Alumnus who specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders. He is a former staff therapist at Cedars-Sinai Hospital’s mental health center in Los Angeles as well as at Kaiser Permanente. He also works in the field of addiction as a drug and alcohol counselor and interventionist. He is also in private practice in Brentwood, CA.

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